Merry and Bright - 2018
by ParchmentandQuill8
Summary: A series of Christmas-themed drabbles for Captain Canary!
1. Elf on the Waverider pt 1

**This is the first of five installments (hopefully, we'll see how finals go) in volume 3 (!) of Merry and Bright this year. This chapter is set in my "Unconventional" universe, as per the request of my lovely friend flabbergabst on Tumblr. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Can we just get started with the team meeting?" Jax asked, slumping down in his chair on the bridge, "I've got stuff to do."

"What stuff?" Ray asked skeptically.

"We're not starting the meeting until Mr. Snart arrives," Rip replied.

"I don't think he'd mind if you started without him," Sara shrugged, smirking when Rip rolled his eyes.

A moment later, Leonard walked onto the bridge.

"Elsie's asleep," he told Sara.

"Nice," she replied as he sat next to her.

"Let's get started," Rip said, "First."

"Guess what!" Ray interrupted. Out of the corner of his eye, Leonard saw Rip sink slightly in his chair in defeat, "I've been keeping track of the present day calendar and December first is in two days. We should celebrate the holidays this year!"

"That'd be fun," Kendra nodded.

"Yeah, let's do it," Jax said.

As the team began chattering about the holidays, Sara leaned towards Leonard, balancing her chin on his shoulder.

"We should think of things to do with Elsie," she said, "It's her first Christmas with us."

He nodded.

"You guys should do Elf on the Shelf with Elsie," Ray said, looking over to them.

"Eavesdropping, Ray?" Sara asked, a joking smirk on her face.

"Elf on the _what_?" Leonard asked, although when he glanced over to Sara he didn't see the same confusion.

"It's this stuffed elf and it comes with a book that explains how it works," he replied.

"How it works?"

"Yeah, the elf watches you all day and then at night it reports to Santa how you were. It comes back and hides in a different spot and you have to find him — but you can't touch him or he loses his magic."

"You do know it's not real, Ray," Sara said skeptically, "Right?"

"Yeah I know," he replied, his shoulders slumped, "It's just one of those things I wish was around when I was Elsie's age." He perked up slightly as he said, "You guys should do Elf on the Shelf with Elsie! It'd be fun!"

Sara shrugged, looking at Leonard.

"She might be a bit too little still but we can try," she said. Leonard tipped his head to the side in agreement, "Gideon, can you make an Elf on the Shelf for Elsie?"

"Of course, Miss Lance," Gideon replied, "It will be ready in the fabrication room shortly."

Ray turned to face the rest of the team once again.

"So we're celebrating Christmas on the Waverider?" he asked everyone. There was a chorus of agreements and nods, "Great! This is going to fun!"

"Well I think this was a productive meeting," Mick said, getting to his feet. The rest of the team began following suit.

"No, that wasn't what we were supposed to—" Rip's protests were cut off when Mick clapped him on the back as he walked by.

"You'll get 'em next time, Captain," Leonard said as Sara took his hand and started pulling him towards the doorway.

* * *

The next evening, Sara brought the new Elf on the Shelf book (the actual elf was stashed in her and Leonard's closet up on a shelf Elsie couldn't reach) to Elsie's room.

As the doors slid open, Sara saw Leonard helping Elsie pull her pajama shirt over her head.

"Len," Sara said, "Mick and Ray need your help with something in the lab"

Leonard nodded as Elsie pushed her arm through the last sleeve.

"Night, Elsie," he said, kissing her cheek.

"Night-night Daddy," Elsie said as Leonard stood up and headed towards the door.

"Ready for your story?" Sara asked as the metal door slid closed.

"Uh-huh," Elsie nodded. Sara sat in the overstuffed chair and waited while Elsie climbed up next to her.

"You know what tomorrow is?" she asked. Elsie shook her head, "Tomorrow is December first, and that means Christmas is coming. Do you remember celebrating Christmas in Norway? Did you do anything special?"

Elsie shrugged.

"You don't remember?" Sara asked. Elsie shook her head, "Did Santa Claus visit you?"

She hesitated before nodding.

"I made him cookies and then he ate them when I was sleeping and he brought me presents," Elsie replied.

"Well guess what."

"What?"

"Santa Claus is gonna come bring you presents here too," Sara told her. Elsie's face lit up, "We're gonna celebrate the holidays on the Waverider with everyone. Does that sound like fun?"

"Yeah!"

"And there are some new things about Christmas since the the last time you celebrated it so I thought our story for tonight could be about one of them," Sara said. She held up the Elf on the Shelf book so Elsie could see the colorful cover. "Ready?"

"Ready," Elsie nodded as she snuggled closer to Sara.

* * *

"So what do you think?" Sara asked when she finished reading, "Do you think an elf is gonna be here tomorrow?"

"I don't know," Elsie giggled, cuddling further against her mother's side.

"Well, you should go to sleep and then you'll find out."

Elsie nodded and let Sara lift her up and carry her to bed.

She crawled under the polka-dotted quilt, fishing her blue stuffed elephant out from within the folds of the rainbow patterned sheets.

"Good night, my love," Sara said, kissing Elsie's forehead, "I'll see you in the morning."

* * *

The following day, Elsie woke up before her parents. On mornings such as these, she pulled the fuzzy blanket off her bed and wrapped it around her shoulders like a cape, then went into the room next door and climbed into her parents' bed.

Sara woke up a half hour later. Even before looking she knew her daughter was there. She heard Elsie's quiet whisper, followed by Leonard's low voice as he murmured something back to her. She couldn't ever hear what their quiet conversations were about, but she never found that she minded. There was something about seeing the bond between the two that made her feel a warmth she almost forget she could feel. She looked over and smiled when she saw their daughter lying across Leonard's chest, her soft gray blanket over her back. Elsie's hair, messy and tangled from sleep, blocked both of their faces from view.

"Hey," Sara murmured, running a hand up and down Elsie's leg, "Do you wanna go get some breakfast and let Daddy sleep?"

Sara saw Elsie nod before she lifted her head.

They left the bedroom and headed for the mess hall. Ray was already there, standing in front of the stove with a spatula in his hand.

"What are you making?" Sara asked him.

"Christmas pancakes," Ray said cheerfully.

"What are Christmas pancakes?" she asked, thinking as she did that she probably shouldn't bother asking him such questions anymore.

"Pancakes shaped like Christmas trees."

"Right," Sara said, shaking her head.

"Really?" Elsie exclaimed.

She leaned forwards and watched Ray carefully spoon pancake batter onto the frying pan in a shape that vaguely resembled a tree.

"Is today Christmas?" Elsie asked.

"Today's the first day of Christmas," Ray replied. Elsie looked to Sara, confused.

"Christmas is in twenty-five days," Sara explained, "but people start celebrating on December first, sometimes earlier." She then remembered the book she had read to Elsie the night before, "Hey, do you remember the story from last night?"

Sara watched Elsie think for a moment.

"Uh-huh," she replied.

"Do you wanna see if an elf came?"

Elsie nodded, curiosity in her eyes, and Sara lifted her off of the stool.

"Hey, what about pancakes?" Ray asked, sounding somewhat dejected.

"We'll be back, Ray," Sara said as she headed for the door, "Okay Else, where do you think an elf could be?"

She felt Elsie shrug.

"What about your bedroom? Did you see an elf in there when you woke up?"

"No," she shook her head.

"Then where else? Maybe…" Sara looked to the ceiling, pretending to think, "…on the bridge?"

Elsie nodded.

Sara walked with Elsie to the bridge and set her down on the metal floor.

"Go look," she murmured, giving her a little nudge. Elsie cautiously stepped forwards, her big blue eyes roaming around the bridge. Sara leaned against the metal doorway and watched her daughter wander curiously around the room. Finally, she saw Elsie's eyes widen with excitement. She looked to Sara and pointed to her chair.

"Did you find something?" Sara asked, unable to conceal a smile when she saw Elsie give a shy little wave in the direction of what she found. She walked over to Elsie and saw the small elf dressed in red and white sitting on Elsie's chair, one arm bent upwards in a wave-like gesture. She crouched down, wrapping her arms around her daughter, "Wow, an elf really came! Isn't that so cool?"

Elsie nodded and Sara gave her a little squeeze.

"Look, there's a note."

Sara pointed to a piece of white card-stock with a candy cane stripe border that was taped to the arm of Elsie's chair.

"Can you read it?" Elsie asked.

"Uh-huh," Sara nodded, "Dear Elsie, I come from the North Pole and bring good cheer. Santa sent me this year to be his eyes and his ears…" Sara read the whole note to Elsie, a poem that explained the "rules" of the elf. It ended with, "No worries my dear, there is lots of fun to share. You never know when Alfie will show up somewhere. Love, Alfie."

Sara looked at Elsie to see a big smile on her face.

"Is the elf's name Alfie?" Sara asked her. Elsie nodded, still smiling, excitement making her blue eyes shine, "You're so cute when you're sleepy, you know that?"

Elsie giggled, turning around to hug her mother. Sara lifted her up as she got to her feet.

"Let's go get some breakfast."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Leonard walked into the bridge to see Elsie eating breakfast at the counter and Sara standing by the coffee machine. Jax was at the counter too, eating a bowl of cereal.

"Daddy, an elf came!" Elsie exclaimed, bouncing up and down in her chair.

"Really?" he asked as he took the coffee mug Sara offered him.

"Uh-huh," she nodded, "His name is Alfie and he writed me a letter."

"Well I guess you're gonna have to make sure you're good," he said.

"She's always good," Sara said, planting little kisses on Elsie's cheeks, "She's my perfect little baby."

In the stool besides Elsie, Jax snorted.

"Really?" he said incredulously, "Yesterday, your perfect little baby tried to—"

"No-o!" Elsie shrieked, clapping a hand over Jax's mouth, "Don't say it! Alfie can hear you!"

Leonard chuckled into his mug as he took a sip of coffee, thinking as he did that they were all in for a long twenty four days.


	2. What's the Worst that Could Happen?

**Remember when I said there'd be five chapters. Lol. Finals happened. We're down to four, probably gonna be three. We shall see.**

* * *

They all agreed later that what happened was Ray's fault, although Nate wasn't exactly blameless either. It had started with Ray wanting to celebrate the holidays on the Waverider.

"C'mon," Ray had said at the latest team meeting, "Rip never let us celebrate, and now that we've got Snart back it'll be even better."

"Rip never let us celebrate the holidays because we never had time," Sara said, "Which is still the case now."

"We're on a timeship!" Nate exclaimed, "We have all the time we need."

"You've been here long enough to know that's not true," she replied, aware that he was no longer listening. Ray was talking again.

"It doesn't have to be a lot," he was saying, "We can just get a tree and Gideon can make us decorations and we can give each other presents and have a big dinner on Christmas day."

"That's not a lot?" Amaya asked with raised eyebrows.

Sara sighed, thinking for a moment. Her gut was telling her to say no, but she knew from past experience that saying no didn't really stop anyone on this team from doing anything. If she said yes, at least they wouldn't go behind her back, possibly damaging the timeline (she was starting to sound like Rip).

"Fine," she gave in.

"Yes!" Nate exclaimed as he gave Ray a high-five.

"On one condition," Sara continued. Both Ray and Nate stilled, nodding seriously, "Neither one of you is going to get the tree."

"Aww," Ray said, looking far too disappointed.

"I'll go, and I'll take…" she paused, looking over the team, "…Mick with me."

She heard a scoff off to the side, just out of her view. She turned to see Leonard leaning against the wall.

"You object?" Sara asked him, eyebrows raised.

"I just think bringing Mick to a field of highly flammable trees might not be a winning idea," he commented.

"So what do you suggest?" she asked, her expression unchanged.

"Fine, whatever, I'll go," he said, straightening and taking a few steps towards her.

"Great," she said stoically, ignoring the quickening pace of her heart.

—

The following day, Leonard and Sara were dropped off in a small Connecticut town with a beat up Sedan and directions to a Christmas tree farm called Silverman's.

"Is this crazy?" Sara asked, her eyes on the road ahead. Before Leonard could respond, she continued, "Am I crazy for letting them do this?"

"I think it's a step in the right direction to not let them get the tree," he replied. Sara tipped her head to the side in agreement.

"I don't think I've celebrated the holidays in, like, ten years," she said, "Not since I first got on the Gambit — whoops."

Sara jerked the wheel to the side, narrowly avoiding clipping a mailbox with the side of the car.

Leonard didn't respond immediately. The last time Sara had talked to him about her past was before the Oculus, which he knew was longer for her than it was for him.

"Yeah," he said, "Been a while for me too. Never really got a chance to feel sentimental about it. Tried to do what I could for Lisa, but when she stopped caring I didn't bother anymore." Then he added, "Are you aware you're driving about twenty miles over the speed limit."

"It's fine. This is Connecticut. Everyone drives like a moron in Connecticut," she shrugged, although Leonard noticed the car slowing down to a more reasonable speed. He heard her sigh.

"What?"

"I don't know why I care so much about having Christmas on the Waverider," Sara shook her head, "It's not like Ray and Nate are gonna hurt anyone just by putting up some decorations on the ship."

"I guess you should be grateful that's all they want," he replied. Sara gave him a confused look, "What?"

"That's very diplomatic of you," she said with raised eyebrows.

"Says the captain of a timeship."

Sara rolled her eyes, then sighed.

"You're right. What's the worst that could happen?"

They found out soon how bad it could get.

—

Sara woke up days later. She looked around, not seeing the soft blue light of the med bay she expected.

"Where am I?" she asked when she saw a figure moving in the periphery of her vision.

"Hey, you're awake!" Ray exclaimed. He went for the door to call for a nurse.

"Where am I?" she asked again. Zari stood from a chair in a corner Sara hadn't noticed before.

"You're at the hospital. Someone called 911 before we could get to you," she explained, "and the ambulance was there not too much later. We didn't have a window to get you out."

"Also, they didn't let us see you if we weren't family," Nate added, "so if anyone asks, you're married to Snart, you and I are siblings, Amaya's my wife, Mick is Snart's brother and Zari is Mick's adopted daughter."

"Okay," Sara replied, not finding the energy to be anything but compliant. She went to push herself into a seated position and winced when a sharp pain shot through her chest and abdomen.

"Careful," Zari said, finding the remote for the hospital bed and pressing down on a button. The hospital bed slowly rose to a more upright position.

"What happened?" Sara asked when she was sitting more comfortably.

"You remember the accident?" Amaya asked, stepping up to the bed.

"I remember…" she hesitated, "driving and then a crash and flashing lights and that's it. Then I woke up."

"You were hit by a drunk driver running a red," Amaya told her.

"T-boned," Nate said, nodding appreciatively, "Classic."

"Well said," Zari shook her head at him, stepping in front of Nate to get closer to Sara's bed, "He hit your side of the car so you got the worst of it."

Sara felt herself tensing as a new wave of panic settled in her chest.

"Where's Snart?" she asked, looking around the room for a figure she might have missed.

"He's fine," Amaya told her, "A little beat up, but fine."

"He and Mick are at a police station giving a statement," Zari added, "Not their choice, but the hospital recommended it and we're trying to seem at least somewhat normal until we can get you out of here."

"And when do you think that will be?" Sara asked.

"We're not sure," Amaya replied, "You just woke up from surgery — two surgeries, actually."

"Surgeries?" she asked, "For what?"

A nurse walked briskly into the room, Ray following close behind her.

"The EMT's saw you had a collapsed lung in the ambulance," she answered, "and while that was being fixed, the surgeons saw some internal bleeding in the abdominal region."

"Oh."

The nurse bustled around Sara for a few minutes, making occasional notes on a purple clipboard.

"How's the pain?" she asked a minute later.

"Not too bad," Sara replied.

"You're a trooper," she said, impressed, "Most people in your position are asking for all the morphine we've got. You're getting some light pain medication through the IV, but if it starts to get bad, press this button," she held up a gray remote with a big green light in the center, "and you'll get a dose of something stronger."

Sara nodded, and a moment later the nurse was gone. The room was silent for a while.

"When are they supposed to get back?" Sara asked after a few minutes.

"Rory and Snart?" Amaya asked. Sara nodded, "Not sure. They only left a half hour ago."

"You're sure he's okay?"

"He's fine," Ray said, looking at Sara seriously, "Promise."

Sara, feeling partially satisfied with the answer she received, began to realize how tired she felt. She let her eyes droop closed.

"We'll let you rest," Amaya said, heading towards the door.

Sara nodded, managing a small smile. The others followed Amaya, and Sara was asleep before the door had closed.

—

"She seems okay," Zari said when they were back in the waiting room.

"Yeah," Amaya nodded.

"Did any of you notice a weird vibe when she mentioned Cold?" Nate asked. Amaya and Zari shrugged and shook their heads. Ray looked determinately in the other direction.

"Ray saw," Zari commented drily.

"Hey!"

"You saw?" Nate exclaimed.

"Yeah," Ray admitted, "Look, Snart and Sara have had this weird bond ever since the first mission. She took all the Oculus stuff and his death really hard, but with her becoming Captain, and also probably not wanting to step on Mick's toes, because obviously he's known him for longer, she didn't get to deal with it like she should have. Maybe the car crash just brought up old memories."

"Shit," Nate said slowly.

"Bond," Zari repeated, "You mean romantic?"

"Not sure," Ray replied, "They did start to seem like a married couple by the end, but as far as I'm aware, nothing ever happened."

They were quiet for a moment.

"Their kids would be gorgeous," Zari said to no one in particular.

—

About an hour later, Mick and Leonard walked into the waiting room.

"Did she wake up?" Leonard asked when he saw the rest of the team.

"Yeah," Ray nodded, "She's sleeping now, but she was up for a few minutes.

"She's —"

"She's okay," Ray cut him off, looking at him with the same serious expression he'd worn when Sara had asked the same question of Leonard.

"She asked about you," Zari told him.

"She did?"

"You should go see her," she said, "She'll probably wake up again soon."

She told him the room number and watched as he headed down the hall.

The hallway was decorated for the holidays. Stickers of wreaths, candy canes, and trees were pressed against the doors, decorating the light wood. Someone had drawn snowflakes and snowmen on the windows with window markers. It all felt too festive for a hospital.

When Leonard arrived at the Sara's room, the door was propped open. A nurse was inside, making notes on a clipboard. She turned when he entered the room.

"Ah, you must be the husband," she said.

Leonard blinked, unable find a reason for what she had just said. He then remembered Nate saying something earlier about making up familial connections so they could get into the hospital.

"Uh, yeah," he finally responded.

"I told her this while she was awake, but she's a real trooper," she said.

"She was awake?" he asked, momentarily forgetting Zari had answered the same question only minutes ago.

"Yes," the nurse — Sandy, a name-tag read — replied, "Just the anesthesia wearing off. She's been through a lot. She'll probably sleep on and off for the next day or so. You don't need to let me know next time she wakes up. I'll be back in a couple hours to check her vitals again."

Leonard nodded, and then the nurse was gone and he was alone with Sara.

Sara was asleep, her head tipped to one side and the hand attached to a heart monitor resting on top of a blue blanket.

Leonard pulled a chair over to the bed and sat. He looked at Sara. She was very pale, making the cuts above her eye and on her cheek even more prominent. Sometime between the ambulance and now, someone had removed all the makeup from her face. Leonard didn't realize Sara wore makeup until its absence, and he had never seen her more beautiful than now.

He thought about the car accident.

They found a tree they both deemed acceptable in about a half hour (another reason for not sending Ray and Nate - it was possible they would have been gone for hours trying to find the perfect Christmas tree). In another fifteen minutes, the tree was fixed to the top of the car and they were heading back to the Waverider.

Leonard had insisted on driving.

 _"Why does it matter who drives?"_ Sara had asked as Leonard pulled out of the parking lot.

 _"You drove here,"_ he replied, _"It's only fair."_

Sara raised her eyebrows, so he continued.

 _"Plus if you drove like you did on the way here, we might lose the tree."_

 _"_ _Aw did my driving scare you,"_ Sara smirked.

 _"_ _Yes," he nodded seriously, "You drive like Lisa did just after she got her license."_

 _"_ _Hey, it's not my fault I haven't really driven a car since I was a teenager."_

 _"I'll bring it up with Oliver next time I see him."_

And then the world turned upside down.

Leonard hadn't seen the pickup truck — not that it would have mattered if he did.

He heard a smashing sound and felt himself jolted to the side. Horns started blaring, muted somewhat by a ringing in his ears. He took a moment to assess himself. He felt a dull pain on the side of his head but otherwise he was okay.

He hesitated before looking at Sara. He could already hear her voice in his head.

 _Maybe you should have let me drive_ , and she would have that half-smirk on her face, the same one she wore any time something bad happened to her _._

Or maybe she'd say something about karma for letting Ray and Nate do this whole Christmas thing.

He turned to look at her and then his heart dropped into his stomach.

Sara was slumped against the passenger-side door. Dark blood trickled out of a cut above her eye. Shattered glass was scattered around her, some small fragments caught in her hair glittering like fresh snow. She was motionless and Leonard was completely frozen.

Sometime later — probably only a minute or two but in the moment, Leonard had no idea — Sara's door opened and a uniformed man was pulling her out of the car.

Then he became aware of sirens and a dozen people speaking over each other and a cacophony of other noise he couldn't identify.

"Len."

Leonard was pulled back to the hospital room by the sound of Sara's voice. He met her eyes, feeling as he did a heaviness settle in his heart.

Neither said anything for a while.

After a minute, Leonard spoke.

"I'm sor—"

Sara stopped him when she dropped her hand to rest on his, shaking her head.

"You don't have to," she said, her voice rough, "It's okay."

"It's not okay," he said, "This wouldn't have happened if—"

"This wouldn't have happened if some idiot didn't get hammered in the middle of the day and then tried to drive," she interrupted him again, "This isn't your fault."

Leonard turned his head away, not able to look at her anymore, not when her eyes were full of such sincerity.

"Hey," Sara said, her voice soft. He felt her hand brush against the side of his face, the cool touch of her fingers coming to rest on his neck and jawline, "You okay?"

She turned his head slightly to better see the cut on the side of his head that had been stitched up the day earlier.

Leonard found himself without words.

"What?" Sara asked, noticing the change in his expression.

He looked to her again, leaning slightly into her hand as he met her eyes.

"How do you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"Be so…" he paused, "… _you_. All the time."

"What do you mean?"

"You're the one who almost died and you're asking _me_ if I'm okay."

"I've seen worse," she told him with a small smile.

"I haven't," he replied, "Not with you."

He saw a twinge of something in Sara's eyes but he wasn't really sure what it was.

"I promise," she told him again, "I'm okay."

He didn't say anything, and Sara could see him inwardly grappling with something. She wasn't surprised. Their conversation had long since drifted into feelings-territory, and Sara knew that Leonard's eloquence and charm rarely made it there with him.

"I should go," he finally said, starting to lift himself out of the chair, "I'll let you—"

Sara caught his wrist and pulled him back. With her other hand, she pushed herself up towards him, her lips capturing his. Sara felt him freeze momentarily, but then the hand not in Sara's grip traveled to the back of her head. Sara felt herself being lowered down to the bed as Leonard deepened the kiss.

A moment later, he felt Sara smile.

"What?" he murmured.

"I think I might enjoy the holidays this year."


End file.
